On 'Leaving No Trace'

motsu shou seki — Leaving No Trace.

On the origin

From the exchange between Chuanzi Decheng, the Boat Monk, and his heir Jiashan Shanhui. The Boat Monk told Jiashan to hide the body and leave no trace, and where no trace is left, not to hide the body. The transmission is recorded in the Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp and the Compendium of Five Lamps, and the line is gathered in the Zenrin Kushu. It speaks of a practice that erases even the marks of awakening.

On the reading

Shouseki is a footprint, the mark left behind. To leave no trace is to carry neither the road walked nor the proof of having arrived. What was done is set down; what was seen is let go. Only where the tracks vanish does the next step move unbound.

On the garment

The seal for this phrase was hand-carved in Tokyo by the artist Satake Hōsen. The front carries this phrase’s seal; the back and inside label carry the Hōsen seal (寳千), printed in vermilion.

The garment is Bella + Canvas 3001 (short sleeve) or Gildan 2400 (long sleeve). A vessel for the word, not the subject itself.

― hosen, tokyo